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Thursday, August 28, 2014

On Women: Selected Writings by Khushwant Singh

Title: On Women: Selected Writings

Author: Khushwant Singh

Publisher: Rupa Publications India

Date: 2014

Price: Rs.195

Pages: 144

Snapshot: This is a collection of stories about women written by Khsuhwant Singh. These are popular characters from his books or real life people like Indira Gandhi, Phoolan Devi, Begum Para that he has written about.

The Review: This is a collection of stories to portray the "Women" within the pages of fiction as well as on the screen of Khushwant Singhs life. Right from his personal journey to the very spot where Phoolan Devi shot thirty Thakur's , to being the first journalist covering internationally "Mother Teressa" and a short glimpse of his beloved characters like Nooran from Train to Pakistan come to life in this book.

The editing has been so perfectly done that you never felt the fiction characters cut out from a bigger picture. The stories individually are complete in themselves. On the other hand his personal encounters with Shraddha Mata, the tantric who was alleged to carry Pt. Nehru's illegitimate child, to his on the face difference of opinion with Indira Gandhi were more appealing to me.

The book also had two chapters on women of his family, his grandmother and his love affair to current life with his wife. All in all this 144 pages are like a booster shot to knowing the author we have cherished since always, Khushwant Singh. Recommended for people who have read his works and those who wish to begin, as his writing is something that can make the most normal story a tale to tell.

About the Author

Born in Punjabs Hadali village (Now in Pakistan) in 1915, Khushwant singh is one of Indias best known and most widely read authors and columnists. He was founder-editor of Yojana and editor of the illustrated weekly of India, national herald and the Hindustan times. His first book, the mark of Vishnu and other stories, was published in 1950 and he has published several acclaimed and best-selling books of fiction and non-fiction in the six decades since. Among these are the novels train to Pakistan, I shall not hear the nightingale, Delhi and the company of women, his autobiography, truth, love and a little malice, the two-volume a history of the Sikhs, a collection of prayers and precepts, the free thinkers prayer book and the forthcoming consolations and lamentations. He has also translated the work of major Punjabi and Urdu poets and writers, as well as the Japji and the Rehras - the morning and evening prayers of the Sikhs.